Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

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LANSING — Local communities that have been hit with the triple whammy of plummeting property values, decreased revenue sharing from the state and increased health care costs may get a break in the upcoming fiscal year.

In his 2014-15 budget proposal, Gov. Rick Snyder is calling for a 3% increase in constitutional revenue sharing, a 15% increase in a program to help local governments pay for more efficient operations and a return to 100% funding in revenue sharing to counties.

He’s also asking for $7.5 million to help financially distressed school districts and $17.5 million a year for 20 years to help quickly settle Detroit’s bankruptcy.

“That’s great news if it really holds up,” said Gerald Poisson, deputy Oakland County executive. “There are some capital-type projects that we’ve put off during the deepest, darkest times. Some things you can delay, but you can’t defer forever.”

The county formula for revenue sharing hasn’t been fully funded since 2001 and has been operating under a complicated tax shift scheme adopted in 2005. In 2013-14, $145 million was allocated for counties, and the 2014-15 number is $211 million.

So Snyder’s proposal is welcome news, said Deena Bosworth, director of governmental affairs for the Michigan Association of Counties.

“Those numbers are going to go a long way,” she said. “It doesn’t mean the counties are going to be flush with money, but it’s going to ease some of that pain a bit.”

For Wayne County, the total will go from $39.9 million this year to $58 million in 2015.

“It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” said Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano. “We’re going to look at how to best utilize it. But one of the best ways to use this is to cut down on the deficit.”

The county’s deficit is about $140 million, Ficano said, adding there is a plan to eliminate that within five years.

The $36-million budget proposal for cities and townships would fund the Economic Vitality Incentive Program, or EVIP. Communities qualify for the program through a number of different ways: increasing transparency on a community website, starting collaborations of services with other communities and reforming employee benefits and compensation.

Added to the EVIP formula this year, Snyder said, will be programs to help communities struggling with high unemployment, crime and deficits.

“It’s a little complicated, but we wanted to recognize the best and the most challenged communities,” Snyder said.

Samantha Harkins of the Michigan Municipal League said the increases are appreciated but don’t make up for the $6 billion communities have lost in revenue sharing during the past decade.

And the EVIP has so many reporting requirements that staff has to be added just to comply with the state bureaucracy.

Snyder said that the money given to communities can’t just be a blank check.

“If they have better ideas that don’t involve us just giving them a check and then going away, I’m very open-minded,” he said.